Market Street Light Sculpture

Market Street is on its way to getting a colorful new look. Lightrail is a recently proposed public art installation involving two LED strings running down Market Street that would light up to reflect the real-time movement of BART and MUNI below. If the plans get approved, the punny sculpture could go all the way from Van Ness to The Embarcadero, and the LEDs would be colored to correspond with the color of the transit lines’ routes. At the end of the night, when BART stops running, the strings would still pulsate with light to represent foot traffic.

According to Hoodline, which broke the story of the proposal, Lightrail is privately funded and has received initial approval from the San Francisco Arts Commission. Its creators are currently working on getting approval from other city agencies such as Historic Preservation Commission. It’s being presented by Illuminate the Arts as well as interactive artists George Zisiadis and Stefano Corazza. The project would celebrate the 40th anniversary of BART and the 100th anniversary of MUNI – and if everything is approved, it could be put in place this year.